Orthodox Reflections

War is many things. A tragic outcome of our separation from God. A symptom of our fallen nature. Organized killing on a mass scale. A colossal waste of young lives. The murder of innocent men, women, and children. “War is Hell” we bravely say over our morning coffee, as if that excuses all the horror we see on our newsfeeds.

But war isn’t Hell. Innocent children are not in Hell, but they are in cities in a place called Gaza.

Before preceding, let’s review the situation in Gaza. The death toll is estimated at 10,500 people, at least 4,300 of whom are children. Thousands more are missing and entombed under the rubble, so those numbers are doubtless way too low. Israel has already dropped the equivalent of two Hiroshima nuclear bombs on Gaza – more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives. One Israeli Cabinet Minister, Amichay Elihayu, suggested in an interview dropping an actual Israeli nuclear weapon to totally annihilate Gaza and its two million inhabitants. He was quickly suspended, not because he advocated genocide, but because he had publicly admitted the existence of Israel’s illegal nuclear arsenal.

Over 1.5 million people in Gaza have already been displaced, as half of Gaza’s homes are damaged with more than 40,000 of them completely destroyed. With health and sanitation systems collapsing, the bombing continuing, and no exit from Gaza allowed – it is impossible to see how the final death toll won’t climb into the hundreds of thousands. Many of the victims will be children.

Scenes like this will continue:

Here are more depressing statistics outlining the enormity of the ongoing war crimes that recent polling indicates are supported by 80% of Israelis:

• 278 educational facilities damaged
• 270 healthcare facilities attacked
• 69 places of worship damaged, including mosques and churches
• 45 ambulances damaged
• 11 bakeries destroyed

This is a campaign of indiscriminate, mass bombing that is being justified, in part, on the basis of similar US bombing campaigns in WWII. The New York Times reported.

“It became evident to U.S. officials that Israeli leaders believed mass civilian casualties were an acceptable price in the military campaign. In private conversations with American counterparts, Israeli officials referred to how the United States and other allied powers resorted to devastating bombings in Germany and Japan during World War II — including the dropping of the two atomic warheads in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — to try to defeat those countries.”

As quoted in The Blaze, Jewish “conservative” commentator Mark Levin expounded on the WWII bombing comparison with Gaza: “It was a battle to kill as many civilians as possible, as well as military manufacturing sites. Why? Because you wanted to take the heart, the spirit, the ideology out of the enemy. It wasn’t enough to just defeat them on the battlefield.”

What is at least refreshing about Levin is that he is being honest. The Netanyahu Government has no “end game” in terms of military objectives. Israelis can not destroy Hamas solely from the air, as their fighters are securely underground. It is highly doubtful Netanyahu’s Government can stomach the Israeli casualties needed, or the length of mobilization required, to root out and destroy Hamas on the ground. So killing as many civilians as possible seems to be the current goal, but to what eventual end?

Using America’s prior war strategy as a precedent fails to justify Israeli actions, because all such bombing campaigns directed at civilians, including those carried out by the Allies in WWII, are immoral crimes in the eyes of God. There can never be a valid justification for deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, no matter who you are.

For support of this position, let’s first consult the document FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church which has this to say about the conduct of war and the responsibility of combatants:

“no one—even if conscripted under arms—is morally required to participate in actions that he or she knows to be contrary to justice and to the precepts of the Gospel. Christian conscience must always reign supreme over the imperatives of national interest. Above all, a Christian must remain ever mindful that things that would be considered acts of terrorism when perpetrated by individuals or organized factions—the random murder of innocent civilians, for instance, for the sake of advancing a political cause—do not become morally acceptable when they are perpetrated instead by recognized states, or when they are achieved with the use of advanced military technology. Indeed, it is arguable that one of the defining features of modern warfare is the effective conflation of the strategies of battle and the intentional terrorization of civilian populations.“

Shooting up a hospital full of sick patients as an individual is morally wrong. Putting on a uniform and obeying an order to drop a bomb on that same hospital is equally morally wrong. Distance and the use of technology do not magically change murder into warfare. If we want to live as Christians, die as Christians, and enjoy eternal life with Christ, then we must wage war as Christians. We must demand that same moral behavior out of any nation we support in any conflict. To do otherwise is to immeasurably harm our own souls.

We can gain some further insight into the Orthodox teaching on war from the War and Peace section of document The Basis of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church:

Among obvious signs pointing to the equity or inequity of a warring party are its war methods and attitude towards its war prisoners and the civilians of the opposite side, especially children, women and elderly. Even in the defence from an aggression, every kind of evil can be done, making one’s spiritual and moral stand not superior to that of the aggressor. War should be waged with righteous indignation, not maliciousness, greed (1 Jn. 2:16) and other fruits of hell. A war can be correctly assessed as a feat or a robbery only after an analysis is made of the moral state of the warring parties. «Rejoice not over thy greatest enemy being dead, but remember that we die all», Holy Scriptures says (Sirach 8:8). Christian humane attitude to the wounded and war prisoners is based on the words of St. Paul: «If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good» (Rom. 12:21-22).

Those supporting the actions of the Netanyahu Government in Gaza often say that Israel has a right to defend itself. They justify the mass murder of civilians on that basis. As the above teaching makes plain, even a clear case of self-defense can be rendered immoral if the means by which you defend yourself are immoral. The 10/7 attack, even if all the stories about it are absolutely true, cannot justify the mass murder of Palestinian civilians in Gaza from a Christian perspective. Nor can it be used as a basis to deny innocent Palestinians food, water, and medical care. No matter who our enemies are, we are commanded by God to treat them humanely.

Does this teaching mean that Christians can’t defend themselves in war? Absolutely not. From the same War and Peace section of the Social Concept document:

While recognising war as evil, the Church does not prohibit her children from participating in hostilities if at stake is the security of their neighbours and the restoration of trampled justice. Then war is considered to be necessary though undesirable but means. In all times, Orthodoxy has had profound respect for soldiers who gave their lives to protect the life and security of their neighbours. The Holy Church has canonised many soldiers, taking into account their Christian virtues and applying to them Christ’s world: «Greater love hath no man but this, that a man lay down his life for his friends»

War is evil, though sometimes a necessary evil. But war is never a moral “free-for-all” in which our Christian consciences are suspended while we carry out wholesale murder of the innocent.

It does not matter if Hamas is a terrorist organization. It doesn’t matter if Hamas would mistreat or even kill its own prisoners. It does not matter if Hamas would happily target civilians, even children. No actions of your enemy can change your obligations as a Christian. Nor can any enemy actions change your obligation to uphold Christian morals when supporting an “ally” fighting a war. If you can’t engage in immoral actions yourself, then you can’t fund or support them either. 

If you think God accepts war as a justification for the mass murder of innocents, then good luck with that at the Dread Judgment Seat of Christ.

America Has Much to Atone For

The United States of America is one of the greatest mass murderers in all of history. I already mentioned the mass bombing of civilians in WWII (including two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan), but that is merely the tip of the iceberg. One researcher has estimated that various types of U.S. military actions (including proxy wars) have victimized 37 nations and cost the lives of over 20 million people. The US has deployed troops to over 210 countries. This all occurred in the so-called “Post War” Era. Ironically named to be sure, since the US has been constantly at war the entire time since 1945.

But our record of slaughter goes back even further. Jewish “conservative” commentator Mark Levin likened the current War in Gaza to the American War Between the States:

Levin believes Israel needs to fight back, and the United States is a good example of why.

 

Abraham Lincoln defeated the South, kept the Union together, and ended slavery. However, there were about 700,000 casualties, including 50,000 citizens.

 

“Was it worth the battle to keep the nation together and to end slavery?” Levin asks. “You see, Lincoln didn’t agree with a two-state solution. It was one country, no two-state solution.”

 

This is why Levin knows it’s imperative that the Israelis be able to “fight for their lives and their very survival,” as a two-state solution is their “final solution.”

The North brutally crushing the South is a model for Israel crushing the Palestinians. In Levin’s mind, the only acceptable solution leaves Israel in control of the Gaza and the West Bank. Since Israel has refused to grant citizenship rights to the Palestinians in the occupied territories, unlike the eventual North / South reconciliation after the American War, one has to wonder what kind of “one-state” solution Levin has in mind – genocide, ethnic cleansing, or continued occupation while Jewish settlers steal more and more land?

America is not a shining moral example for the world. Our atrocities cannot be excused because they were “worth it” based on America’s laudable goals. Our atrocities cannot serve as justifications for other nations’ atrocities. Americans must recognize and repudiate the evil done in our names in places such as the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Serbia, Ukraine, and Libya. We must also demand that America no longer fund or fight immoral wars. We should do this, if for no other reason, than to finally stop being such damnable hypocrites before the face of a righteous God.

Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America